This study aims to understand the spectrum of work settings and challenges faced by migrant women workers in the garment manufacturing industry, particularly focused on between-states migrants; to investigate their conditions; including women’s access to employment, social security, health care, and decent work as migrant workers. The findings of this paper are based on a questionnaire-based survey of a purposively drawn sample of 153 migrant women garment workers in Tiruppur followed by tailor made detailed interviews with individual workers, employers, and other public and private stakeholders involved with migrating women garment workers. The survey covered women migrants from Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, and six other states, including Tamil Nadu. Fieldwork in
Tiruppur concentrated on workers from Jharkhand, Odisha, and Bihar, while fieldwork at the source was conducted in Jharkhand and Odisha.
Building on some of the main identified challenges for migrant women, such as unequal and sub-minimum wages, long working hours, and poor provisions for health, leave, social security, and reproductive rights, the report provides policy and action-oriented recommendations for relevant stakeholders toward improving the condition of these workers and identifying longer-term solutions. This report will be useful for the policy makers at the State-level to use the findings and recommendations in modifying and gendering their policies for improving the quality of life and working conditions of women workers, and towards addressing the challenges and insecurities that they face as
migrants. The evidence and recommendations may be of use to the garment industry/private sector in addressing attrition and labour shortages by creating the conditions for migrant women workers to stay at their destinations.
JEL Codes(s): R23; J61; J16; J81; O15
Key Words: Women migrant workers, garment industry, Tiruppur, labour, survey